A broker, who wished to remain anonymous, said he recently tried to submit a buy-to-let (BTL) application for a client to the lender. However, on contacting N&P, he was told that he could not carry out the transaction as it was only available to ARs and not DAs.
Commenting, the broker said: “Normally, you are told a deal is exclusive between a mortgage lender and a network, but to turn away business because a deal is only available to ARs is unusual. There has been much coverage about the fact that more lenders are opting for the AR route as it gives them added security over the product sale. This isn’t right, as the whole point of DA intermediaries is that we provide access to the whole marketplace and therefore, should have access to the whole marketplace.”
However, David Jervis, business services director at N&P, denied any preferential treatment and said he would contact the broker to resolve the issue.
He said: “Without the exact details of the type of BTL product the broker was trying to submit, it is difficult to give a considered and full explanation. However, from time to time, we offer exclusives to mortgage clubs and ARs, or very rarely, we may offer propositions just to ARs. If this broker is a member of a mortgage club but is not an AR, then it is likely that this provides an explanation of what has happened. It is certainly not the case that we are moving towards using ARs over DA brokers.”
